Top Ten Lists

All these lists are subject to change as I view more films, catching up on any films that I may have missed or if my opinion changes regarding a film.  I fill in older years once I’ve seen enough films from that year to have a decent list. Last update was 12-27-23.

2022

1. Benediction (Terence Davies)
2. Decision to Leave (Park Chan-Wook)
3. The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)
4. TÁR (Todd Field)
5. Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert)
6. Women Talking (Sarah Polley)
7. After Yang (Kogonada)
8. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson)
9. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (Dean Fleischer Camp)
10. Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma)

2021

1. Annette (Leos Carax)
2. The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson)
3. West Side Story (Steven Spielberg)
4. Drive My Car (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
5. The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion)
6. The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
7. A Hero (Asghar Farhadi)
8. The Card Counter (Paul Schrader)
9. Pig (Michael Sarnoski)
10. The Last Duel (Ridley Scott)

2020

1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)
2. First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)
3. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (George C. Wolfe)
4. Dick Johnson Is Dead (Kirsten Johnson)
5. Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee)
6. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Bill Ross IV & Turner Ross)
7. Yes, God, Yes (Karen Maine)
8. The Vast of Night (Andrew Patterson)
9. The Prom (Ryan Murphy)
10. What the Constitution Means to Me (Marielle Heller)

2019

1. Little Women (Greta Gerwig)
2. Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach)
3. The Irishman (Martin Scorsese)
4. Knives Out (Rian Johnson)
5. Parasite (Bong Joon Ho)
6. The Dead Don’t Die (Jim Jarmusch)
7. The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Joe Talbot)
8. The Farewell (Lulu Wang)
9. By the Grace of God (François Ozon)
10. Frozen II (Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee)

2018

1. Leave No Trace (Debra Granik)
2. The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)
3. Let the Sunshine In (Claire Denis)
4. You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay)
5. Paddington 2 (Paul King)
6. First Reformed (Paul Schrader)
7. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel & Ethan Coen)
8. Madeline’s Madeline (Josephine Decker)
9. The Guardians (Xavier Beauvois)
10. The Third Murder (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

2017

1. Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)
2. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)
3. A Quiet Passion (Terence Davies)
4. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (Luc Besson)
5. The Salesman (Asghar Farhadi)
6. Graduation (Cristian Mungiu)
7. mother! (Darren Aronofsky)
8. The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola)
9. Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas)
10. My Happy Family (Nana Ekvtimishvili & Simon Groß)

2016

1. Silence (Martin Scorsese)
2. The Witch (Robert Eggers)
3. Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson)
4. Paterson (Jim Jarmusch)
5. The Handmaiden (Park Chan-Wook)
6. Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
   
7. Hell or High Water (David Mackenzie)
8. The Edge of Seventeen (Kelly Fremon Craig)
9. Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman)
   
10. Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt)
    

2015

1. The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
   
2. Inside Out (Pete Docter)
   
3. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)
4. Phoenix (Christian Petzold)
   
5. Love & Mercy (Bill Pohlad)
6. Mistress America (Noah Baumbach)
   
7. Man from Reno (Dave Boyle)
   
8. Carol (Todd Haynes)
   
9. Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas)
   
10. Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (Ronit & Shlomi Elkabetz)

2014

1. Two Days, One Night (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
   
2. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch)
   
3. The Babadook (Jennifer Kent)
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
   
5. Into the Woods (Rob Marshall)
6. Begin Again (John Carney)
   
7. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)
8. Ida (Paweł Pawlikowski)
   
9. The Lego Movie (Phil Lord & Chris Miller)
   
10. Gone Girl (David Fincher)
    

2013

1. Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach)
   
2. Short Term 12 (Destin Daniel Cretton)
   
3. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)
   
4. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel & Ethan Coen)
   
5. The Past (Asghar Farhadi)
   
6. This Is Martin Bonner (Chad Hartigan)
   
7. The World’s End (Edgar Wright)
   
8. Before Midnight (Richard Linklater)
   
9. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)
   
10. Stoker (Park Chan-Wook)
    

2012

1. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson)
   
2. Anna Karenina (Joe Wright)
3. The Deep Blue Sea (Terence Davies)
4. Frankenweenie (Tim Burton)
   
5. The Kid with a Bike (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) 
6. The Secret World of Arietty (Hiromasa Yonebayashi)
   
7. Amour (Michael Haneke)
   
8. Skyfall (Sam Mendes)
9. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson)
10. Damsels in Distress (Whit Stillman)
    

2011

1. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
   
2. Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois)
   
3. Hugo (Martin Scorsese)
   
4. Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
   
5. Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt)
   
6. The Mill and the Cross (Lech Majewski)
   
7. Twixt (Francis Ford Coppola)
   
8. A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg)
   
9. Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
   
10. The Muppets (James Bobin)
    

2010

1. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog)
2. True Grit (Joel & Ethan Coen)
   
3. Inception (Christopher Nolan)
   
4. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)
   
5. The King’s Speech (Tom Hooper)
   
6. Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik)
   
7. Mysteries of Lisbon (Raúl Ruiz)
8. Get Low (Aaron Schneider)
   
9. Somewhere (Sofia Coppola)
   
10. Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese)
    

2009

1. Coraline (Henry Selick)
   
2. Thirst (Park Chan-Wook)
3. The Limits of Control (Jim Jarmusch)
   
4. Lourdes (Jessica Hausner)
5. Bright Star (Jane Campion)
   
6. Up (Pete Docter & Bob Peterson)
   
7. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson)
   
8. Passing Strange (Spike Lee)
9. Julie and Julia (Nora Ephron)
   
10. Wild Grass (Alain Resnais)
    

2008

1. WALL-E (Andrew Stanton)
   
2. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson)
3. Lorna’s Silence (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
4. 35 Shots of Rum (Claire Denis)
5. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
   
6. Munyurangabo (Lee Isaac Chung)
   
7. Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas)
   
8. The Class (Laurent Cantet)
   
9. Lake Tahoe (Fernando Eimbcke)
   
10. Doubt (John Patrick Shanley)
    

2007

1. Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Tim Burton)
   
2. Once (John Carney)
   
3. In the City of Sylvia (José Luis Guerín)
   
4. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
   
5. 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu)
6. Flight of the Red Balloon (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
   
7. Heartbeat Detector (Nicolas Klotz)
8. Ratatouille (Brad Bird)
9. Lars and the Real Girl (Craig Gillespie)
   
10. My Kid Could Paint That (Amir Bar-Lev)
    

2006

1. Paprika (Satoshi Kon)
   
2. The Prestige (Christopher Nolan)
   
3. United 93 (Paul Greengrass)
   
4. Private Fears in Public Places (Alain Resnais)
   
5. The Painted Veil (John Curran)
   
6. Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)
7. The Queen (Stephen Frears)
   
8. Inland Empire (David Lynch)
   
9. The Island (Ostrov) (Pavel Lungin)
   
10. The New World (Terrence Malick)

2005

1. Sophie Scholl the Final Days (Marc Rothemund)
   
2. Caché (Hidden) (Michael Haneke)
3. Into Great Silence (Philip Gröning)
   
4. L’Enfant (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
   
5. The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach)
6. Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan)
   
7. Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch)
   
8. Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (Tim Burton)
   
9. Tsotsi (Gavin Hood)
   
10. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg)
    

2004

1. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson)
   
2. The Incredibles (Brad Bird)
   
3. Born Into Brothels (Zana Briski & Ross Kauffman)
   
4. 2046 (Wong Kar-Wai)
5. Collateral (Michael Mann)
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
   
7. The Ninth Day (Volker Schlöndorff)
   
8. The Merchant of Venice (Michael Radford)
9. The Holy Girl (Lucrecia Martel)
   
10. Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright)
    

2003

1. Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton)
   
2. Coffee and Cigarettes (Jim Jarmusch)
   
3. The Station Agent (Tom McCarthy)
   
4. Pieces of April (Peter Hedges)
   
5. The Lord of the Rings the Return of the King (Peter Jackson)
6. Pirates of the Caribbean the Curse of the Black Pearl (Gore Verbinski)
   
7. Big Fish (Tim Burton)
   
8. Girl with a Pearl Earring (Peter Webber)
   
9. The Story of the Weeping Camel (Byambasuren Davaa & Luigi Falorni)
   
10. In the Cut (Jane Campion)
    

2002

1. The Pianist (Roman Polanski)
   
2. Le Fils (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
   
3. Chicago (Rob Marshall)
   
4. Hero (Zhang Yimou)
5. Insomnia (Christopher Nolan)
   
6. The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers (Peter Jackson)
   
7. Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov)
   
8. Femme Fatale (Brian De Palma)
   
9. Minority Report (Steven Spielberg)
   
10. Ten (Abbas Kiarostami)
    

2001

1. The Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson)
   
2. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)
   
3. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)
   
4. The Man Who Wasn’t There (Joel & Ethan Coen)
   
5. Time Out (Laurent Cantet)
   
6. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
   
7. Amelie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
8. Monsoon Wedding (Mira Nair)
   
9. Millennium Actress (Satoshi Kon)
   
10. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
    

2000

1. Memento (Christopher Nolan)
   
2. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
   
3. Yi-Yi: A One and a Two (Edward Yang)
   
4. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai)
   
5. Code Unknown (Michael Haneke)
   
6. The Miracle Maker (Stanislav Sokolov & Derek W. Hayes)
   
7. The Gleaners & I (Agnes Varda)
   
8. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky)
9. Audition (Takashi Miike)
   
10. The Emperor’s New Groove (Mark Dindal)
    

1999

1. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
   
2. The Insider (Michael Mann)
3. Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson)
   
4. The Straight Story (David Lynch)
   
5. The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola)
   
6. The Iron Giant (Brad Bird)
7. Ratcatcher (Lynne Ramsay)
8. The End of the Affair (Neil Jordan)
9. Toy Story 2 (John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, & Ash Brannon)
   
10. Not One Less (Zhang Yimou)
    

1998

1. The Last Days of Disco (Whit Stillman)
   
2. The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick)
   
3. The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen)
   
4. The Truman Show (Peter Weir)
   
5. Central Station (Walter Salles)
   
6. Rushmore (Wes Anderson)
7. The Prince of Egypt (Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, & Simon Wells)
8. Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg)
   
9. After Life (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
   
10. Dark City (Alex Proyas)
    

1997

1. Eve’s Bayou (Kasi Lemmons)
2. The Ice Storm (Ang Lee)
3. Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon)
4. Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami)
5. Men in Black (Barry Sonnenfeld)
6. Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai)
7. Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki)
8. Lost Highway (David Lynch)
9. The Game (David Fincher)
10. Good Will Hunting (Gus van Sant)

1996

1. Fargo (Joel Coen)
2. Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh)
3. A Moment of Innocence (Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
4. The Portrait of a Lady (Jane Campion)
5. Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh)
6. Ponette (Jacques Doillon)
7. The Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye)
8. The Birdcage (Mike Nichols)
9. Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson)
10. Evita (Alan Parker)

1995

1. Heat (Michael Mann)
2. Sense and Sensibility (Ang Lee)
   
3. Whisper of the Heart (Yoshifumi Kondô)
4. Babe (Chris Noonan)
5. A Little Princess (Alfonso Cuarón)
6. The Celluloid Closet (Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman)
7. Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins)
8. Toy Story (John Lasseter)
9. Casino (Martin Scorsese)
10. Kicking and Screaming (Noah Baumbach)

1994

1. Three Colors: Red (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
   
2. Three Colors: White (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
3. Ed Wood (Tim Burton)
   
4. Ashes of Time (Wong Kar-Wai)
   
5. Faustina (Jerzy Lukaszewicz)
6. Quiz Show (Robert Redford)
   
7. Bullets Over Broadway (Woody Allen)
   
8. Crooklyn (Spike Lee)
9. The Hudsucker Proxy (Joel Coen)
   
10. Vanya on 42nd Street (Louis Malle)

1993

1. Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
   
2. The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese)
   
3. The Fugitive (Andrew Davis)
   
4. Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg)
   
5. Carlito’s Way (Brian De Palma)
   
6. The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick)
   
7. Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg)
   
8. Much Ado About Nothing (Kenneth Branagh)
   
9. The Piano (Jane Campion)
   
10. Searching for Bobby Fischer (Steven Zaillian)
    

1991

1. The Double Life of Veronique (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
2. The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme)
3. Jungle Fever (Spike Lee)
4. Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise)
5. A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang)
6. Night on Earth (Jim Jarmusch)
7. Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash)
8. Rhapsody in August (Akira Kurosawa)
9. Mississippi Masala (Mira Nair)
10. Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou)

1990

1. GoodFellas (Martin Scorsese)
2. To Sleep with Anger (Charles Burnett)
3. Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton)
4. Metropolitan (Whit Stillman)
5. Dreams (Akira Kurosawa)
6. Miller’s Crossing (Joel Coen)
7. Days of Being Wild (Wong Kar-Wai)
8. Paris Is Burning (Jennie Livingston)
9. Alice (Woody Allen)
10. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard)

1989

1. Henry V (Kenneth Branagh)
   
2. The Decalogue (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
   
3. Heathers (Michael Lehmann)
   
4. When Harry Met Sally… (Rob Reiner)
   
5. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)
   
6. Casualties of War (Brian de Palma)
7. Jesus of Montreal (Denys Arcand)
8. Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen)
   
9. Mystery Train (Jim Jarmusch)
   
10. sex, lies, and videotape (Steven Soderbergh)
    

1988

1. Beetlejuice (Tim Burton)
2. My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki)
3. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Terry Gilliam)
4. Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata)
5. Midnight Run (Martin Brest)
6. The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris)
7. Die Hard (John McTiernan)
8. A Fish Called Wanda (Charles Crichton)
9. Chocolat (Claire Denis)
10. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Robert Zemeckis)

1987

1. Babette’s Feast (Gabriel Axel)
2. Blind Chance (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
   
3. The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner)
4. Radio Days (Woody Allen)
5. The Man Who Planted Trees (Frédéric Back)
6. The Last Emperor (Bernardo Bertolucci)
7. Au Revoir Les Enfants (Louis Malle)
8. Empire of the Sun (Steven Spielberg)
   
9. Opera (Dario Argento)
10. The Living Daylights (John Glen)

1986

1. Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
2. Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen)
3. A Room with a View (James Ivory)
4. The Mission (Rolland Joffé)
5. Aliens (James Cameron)
6. Mélo (Alain Resnais)
7. Down By Law (Jim Jarmusch)
8. Dust in the Wind (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
9. The Fly (David Cronenberg)
10. The Sacrifice (Andrei Tarkovsky)

1984

1. Amadeus (Miloš Forman)
2. Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders)
3. This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner)
4. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone)
5. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Hayao Miyazaki)
6. Blood Simple (Joel Coen)
7. Places in the Heart (Robert Benton)
8. Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch)
9. Stop Making Sense (Jonathan Demme)
10. The Muppets Take Manhattan (Frank Oz)

1974

1. The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola)
   
2. Murder on the Orient Express (Sidney Lumet)
   
3. Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks)
4. A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes)
   
5. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (Sam Peckinpah)
6. The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola)
   
7. Chinatown (Roman Polanski)
   
8. Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks)
   
9. The Parallax View (Alan J. Pakula)
   
10. The Sugarland Express (Steven Spielberg)
    

1967

1. The Young Girls of Rochefort (Jacques Demy)
   
2. Belle de Jour (Luis Buñuel)
   
3. In Cold Blood (Richard Brooks)
   
4. Mouchette (Robert Bresson)
   
5. Samurai Rebellion (Masaki Kobayashi)
   
6. Playtime (Jacques Tati)
   
7. La Collectionneuse (Eric Rohmer)
   
8. In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison)
   
9. Two for the Road (Stanley Donen)
   
10. Wait Until Dark (Terence Young)

1963

1. Contempt (aka Le Mepris) (Jean-Luc Godard)
   
2. Charade (Stanley Donen)
   
3. The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock)
   
4. 8½ (Federico Fellini)
   
5. The Silence (Ingmar Bergman)
   
6. The Leopard (Luchino Visconti)
   
7. High and Low (Akira Kurosawa)
   
8. Shock Corridor (Samuel Fuller)
   
9. The Haunting (Robert Wise)
   
10. The Bakery Girl of Monceau (Eric Rohmer)
    

1962

1. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford)
   
2. The Trial (Orson Welles)
   
3. The Trial of Joan of Arc (Robert Bresson)
   
4. Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean)
   
5. To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan)
   
6. Vivre sa Vie (aka My Life to Live) (Jean-Luc Godard)
   
7. La Jetée (Chris Marker)
   
8. Cléo from 5 to 7 (Agnes Varda)
   
9. Lolita (Stanley Kubrick)
   
10. Birdman of Alcatraz (John Frankenheimer)
    

1955

1. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
2. Night and Fog (Alain Resnais)
3. Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer)
4. Marty (Delbert Mann)
5. To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock)
6. Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot)
7. Lola Montès (Max Ophüls)
8. Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich)
9. It’s Always Fair Weather (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly)
10. Pather Panchali (aka Song of the Little Road) (Satyajit Ray)

1953

1. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks)
2. Tokyo Story (Yasujirō Ozu)
3. The Big Heat (Fritz Lang)
4. From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinnemann)
5. I Confess (Alfred Hitchcock)
6. The Earrings of Madame de… (Max Ophüls)
7. Stalag 17 (Billy Wilder)
8. Summer With Monika (Ingmar Bergman)
9. Roman Holiday (William Wyler)
10. The Hitch-Hiker (Ida Lupino)